


A Laughing Matter

by yopumpkinhead



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Light Angst, Tickle Fights, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 21:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13198521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yopumpkinhead/pseuds/yopumpkinhead
Summary: Ignis wakes Noctis up early one too many times. Gladio sees an opportunity for training. Prompto takes all the pictures.





	A Laughing Matter

**Author's Note:**

> Just a ridiculous little bit of fluff for these dumb boys, to soothe the pain that is Episode: Ignis. Inspired by [this gorgeous fanart](http://magemg.tumblr.com/post/160506570890/i-wonder-if-ignis-is-secretly-ticklish-noct-would) by magemg.

Gladio and Prompto were nearly back to the haven when they heard Ignis scream.

They’d gone out for an early-morning run, before the sun rose too high and the temperature along with it. Three weeks ago at the beginning of the trip, Gladio had been surprised but glad to learn that Prompto, unlike Noctis, was an early riser and an avid runner. He’d known the kid kept in shape; Prompto wouldn’t have got through the Crownsguard crash course to be allowed to accompany them otherwise. But Noct had never mentioned that Prompto ran, and before this trip Gladio usually only saw him at the arcade or at Noct’s apartment. So he’d been happy to have the company in the mornings, and better yet, someone who could actually challenge him.

He and Prompto made an effort to run whenever they could, while Ignis made breakfast and Noct slept in. Even after the Imperials attacked Insomnia and killed both the King and his Shield - _especially_ after that - they went running. The exercise helped Gladio focus, helped keep his mind on the things he could affect here and now, instead of things he couldn’t change, things that had happened days ago and miles away. He didn’t have to worry, either, because the havens were safe. He could leave Noct and Ignis there and not feel like he was shirking his duty, not fear he might return to find Noctis skewered by an Imperial blade.

Except Ignis had just screamed.

Gladio didn’t bother to glance at Prompto, just took off running, flat-out instead of the lazy cooldown jog to which they’d slowed. He had no idea what had happened - the haven was supposed to be safe. No daemons could come close to the Oracle-blessed rock, and it was daylight besides, the sun shining bright overhead. A more mundane wild animal could have gotten up there, but there was nothing in this corner of Leide that Ignis couldn’t kill with his pancake spatula. MTs, maybe, although they hadn’t seen an Imperial dropship so Gladio had no idea where any troopers might have come from.

Finally the haven came into view through the trees: tent, grill, fire, chairs. Ignis and Noct were nowhere to be seen - but then Ignis shrieked again, a short, breathless, high-pitched cry. “Tent,” Gladio panted to Prompto, and summoned his sword to his hand.

He led the way up the winding path to the top of the haven, slowing so he could assess the situation. No visible enemies - wild beasts, MTs, or otherwise. No sign of disturbance, the chairs still standing, a covered pot simmering on the grill. The tent flap was open, and through it Gladio spotted Ignis’s feet and lower legs, kicking wildly. Ignis was still making gasping little cries of distress, but they almost sounded… like laughing?

Then someone cackled wildly, and Gladio stopped altogether as he recognized Noct’s voice. Prompto, too, came to an uncertain stop beside him, throwing a baffled look up at Gladio before turning back to the tent.

“Um,” Prompto said. Gladio waved him to silence. Dismissing his sword, he crept forward, crouching to peer into the tent.

Ignis sprawled on the floor, with Noctis sitting on him and using one knee to trap his left arm. With his right hand Ignis was desperately trying to grab at Noct, but Noct had him by the wrist, holding him off. Noct’s other hand was jabbing into Ignis’s ribs and stomach with brutal precision. Noctis cackled again as Ignis squirmed and giggled helplessly, apparently unable to escape.

Prompto peered over Gladio’s shoulder. “Whoa,” he said. “Iggy’s _ticklish?”_

“Iggy’s ticklish as _hell_ ,” Noct said gleefully, and went for the sensitive spot under Ignis’s arm as Ignis tried and failed to shove him off.

“Gladio, by all the gods help - ack! - _help_ me!” Ignis begged.

“No way,” Noctis said before Gladio could answer. “I told you you’d regret waking me up this early.”

“It’s - ah! - it’s not—” Ignis dissolved into giggles again, flailing uselessly.

“It’s _eight_ in the _morning_ ,” Noctis said, the mock anger in his voice belied by the wicked grin on his lips. “I was _sleeping_.” He did something that made Ignis yelp and squirm hard enough that his whole body bucked, though with most of Noct’s weight on him he couldn’t get very far. Noct added smugly, “I _told_ you to leave me alone,” and went for Ignis’s stomach.

“I yield!” Ignis choked out. “I yield, I yield, I _yield!_ ”

Noct snuck in a final poke to the ribs, then rolled off Ignis, flopping across the floor of the tent. Ignis just lay there gasping, struggling to get his breath back and his body under control. Prompto glanced up at Gladio worriedly, wearing that uncertain expression he sometimes got when he remembered that Noct, Ignis, and Gladio were royals who’d grown up together and he was a commoner - like he was afraid he’d get jumped by Crownsguard for joking around with them. Gladio flashed him a reassuring grin, and drawled, “Iggy, you never told me you were ticklish.”

Ignis lifted his head enough to glare at him. His glasses had come askew in the tickle fight, though, and he looked rumpled and undignified rather than intimidating. “I had enough to worry about with Noctis knowing, thank you very much.”

Noctis snorted. “When we were little, I could make him jump and laugh just by doing this.” He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers in the air.

Sure enough, Ignis flinched - then, when Gladio raised an eyebrow at him, doubled down on the glare. The red flush on his cheeks wasn’t entirely from exertion; he was _definitely_ blushing, all the way to the tips of his ears. “Noctis Lucis Caelum—” Ignis began heatedly.

“Don’t full-name me, Iggy,” Noctis said, smirking. “You had plenty of warning.”

 “And _you_ should have been up an hour ago,” Ignis grumbled. “At least we accomplished that much, I suppose.” He pushed himself to his hands and knees, pointedly shouldering Gladio aside so he could crawl out of the tent. Standing, he straightened his shirt and glasses, then, with all the dignity a man could muster after having been tickled within an inch of his life, said, “Breakfast is ready.”

“Great!” Gladio said, and clapped his hands together. “I’m starving.”

“Me, too,” Prompto agreed. He leaned into the tent and thumped Noct in the ankle. “C’mon, I want to show you the pictures I took by the lake this morning. The fish were really jumping!”

Noctis, who had closed his eyes with the air of a man about to go back to sleep, sat up so fast he nearly knocked heads with Prompto. “What kind?”

“Dunno,” Prompto said with a shrug. “Think you can tell from the photos?”

“I can try,” Noct said, and followed Prompto out of the tent and over to the chairs.

If he wiggled his fingers at Ignis and Ignis took a not-quite-casual step out of arm’s reach, Gladio wasn’t going to mention it.

*           *           *

Correction: Gladio wasn’t going to mention it _then_. Later that evening, after they’d killed the arbas they were hunting and returned to the haven, Gladio dropped into a camp chair next to Ignis and raised an eyebrow at him. Ignis sighed, but didn’t move. Noctis and Prompto had already retreated to the tent, away from the evening’s chill breeze, their heads bent over their phones for a round of _King’s Knight_. This was about as private a conversation as Gladio and Ignis would be able to have until they returned to the relative safety of Lestallum.

“Didn’t figure you for the type to lose a tickle fight,” Gladio said, keeping his voice pitched low. “‘Specially against His Laziness.”

Ignis looked away, out into the dark of the night beyond the glow of the haven’s runes. Something about his manner told Gladio there was more going on than simple roughhousing, and he made himself wait. Finally Ignis said, “That’s the first time he’s laughed like that since…”

 _Since Insomnia fell_ , he didn’t say.

“Ah,” Gladio said quietly.

“I can tolerate a bit of indignity for his sake,” Ignis said. “He needed the laugh.”

“We all did,” Gladio admitted. Not for the first time, his mind tried to conjure an image of his father, and he shoved it away. Clarus Amicitia had died in the line of duty, as was his responsibility and his honor as Regis’s Shield. No sense in crying over it; Iris had done enough of that for both of them.

To distract himself, he said to Ignis, “Next time you let him pin you down like that, though, try putting up more of a fight. Kid needs the practice.”

“Er,” Ignis said. “Right, yes, I’ll do that.” His ears were turning red again, bright enough to see even in the gently flickering firelight.

Gladio narrowed his eyes. “You _were_ letting him pin you, right?”

“I—”

“ _Iggy_.”

Ignis sighed and crossed his arms. “Yes, all right, fine. I _was_ putting up a fight, unsuccessfully.”

“Oh, for Shiva’s—” Gladio rolled his eyes. “How the hell did the Marshal let you graduate without being able to break that shitty of a hold?”

“He didn’t test me on that kind of hold,” Ignis snapped, “and Noctis is better at it than you give him credit for.”

“Stars,” Gladio muttered, and shook his head. “Fine. You want me to show you how to break that?”

Ignis fidgeted for a moment, then sighed again. “Yes, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“‘s what I’m here for,” Gladio said lightly. He slid from the chair to the rocky ground of the haven. “Pin me like Noct had you.”

Ignis obliged, one knee trapping Gladio’s left hand, his hand wrapped around Gladio’s other wrist. Gladio said, “Tell me you at least remember the basics of breaking a grip - pressure opposite the bend of the joint?”

“I do,” Ignis said irritably.

“Good. So first you break this grip—” Gladio twisted his arm out of Ignis’s hand. “Then the same thing down here.” He walked Ignis through the steps, performing them himself against Ignis’s hold a few times before swapping places to have Ignis try it.

It took Ignis only a couple of attempts to get the moves down, and a few minutes later he broke Gladio’s grip once more and rolled to his feet. “Thank you,” Ignis said. “Hopefully I’ll not find myself in such a position again, but should it come up—”

“Whaddya mean, _should_?” Gladio said, and grinned. With one quick movement he hooked a foot behind Ignis’s leg and knocked him to the ground, then pinned him down again. Ignis struggled, but this time Gladio was applying real pressure to the grip.

“Gladio, what—” Ignis began, then froze when Gladio’s grin widened. “No,” he yelped. “Don’t you dare—”

Gladio started tickling him, just like he’d used to tickle Iris when she was younger. Ignis shrieked and flailed - and utterly failed to break out of Gladio’s hold. “C’mon, Iggy,” Gladio said. “I just showed you how to get away.”

“I - ack! I can’t—” Ignis gasped. “This isn’t fair—!”

“You think the Niffs are gonna play fair if they manage to grab you?” Gladio said. He didn’t let up on either the tickling or his grip on Ignis’s arms. “You think they’re gonna wait for you to be calm and composed so you can break out?”

“I don’t think—” Ignis tried, then shrieked again as Gladio hit a particularly ticklish spot. “They aren’t going to _tickle_ me!”

“Tickle, torture, same difference,” Gladio said, and smirked.

Lamp light spilled over them suddenly as the tent flap opened and Noctis stuck his head out. “Are we tickling Iggy again?”

“No—” Ignis gasped, but Gladio spoke over him: “He’s learning how to break a hold. Wanna help?”

The smile that spread over Noct’s face was brighter than the lamp. “Are you kidding?” He crawled out of the tent and dashed over to them.

Prompto followed him, camera in hand and a huge grin on his face. “I am _so_ taking _all_ the pictures of this,” he said gleefully, and immediately began doing so.

“Don’t you dare,” Ignis gasped. Prompto ignored him, the shutter clicking rapid-fire as he circled for a better angle.

“You want us to stop, you know how to get free,” Gladio said to Ignis. He shifted to give Noct better access to Ignis’s ribs.

“Noct—” Ignis yelped.

Noctis ignored him, ducking under Gladio’s arm and attacking Ignis with gleeful precision. Ignis struggled, making halfhearted attempts to break out as Gladio had taught him, but he was laughing and squirming too much to succeed. “C’mon, Iggy,” Gladio said. “I know you can do better than this.”

“I’m trying—augh! I’m _trying_ —!” Ignis protested.

To be fair, he _was_ trying, but Gladio wasn’t about to let him go easily. If he could lose his head this badly from being tickled, he could lose it in worse situations, and Gladio needed to make sure he could get through it. Which meant bringing out the big guns. Gladio glanced up at Prompto, who was practically bouncing around the haven as he looked for new photo angles. “You wanna join in?”

Prompto’s eyes widened behind the camera, his gaze darting between Ignis on the ground and Noct and Gladio crouching over him. It was that same hesitation from before, that moment of fear that he didn’t belong, but Gladio grinned and jerked his head at him to come join them, and slowly Prompto’s eyes lit up with mischief. “Yeah, okay,” he said, and set the camera safely aside on a chair.

“No!” Ignis cried. “ _No!_ ” He wrenched his arm and actually managed to twist out of Gladio’s grip, but Gladio just grabbed him again and pulled his arm higher so Prompto could get at Ignis’s side.

“It’s all on you, Iggy,” Gladio said. “How long are you gonna sit there and let them do that?”

“I will _kill_ you!” Ignis yelled.

“Not if you can’t get loose,” Gladio said.

Noctis straightened, a wicked grin dancing on his lips. “Hey, Prompto. Wanna help me get his feet?”

“Wha—” Ignis yelped. “No!”

They ignored him, giggling like idiots as they yanked at his shoes. Ignis screeched in furious indignation as they started ticking the bottoms of his feet. “I yield!”

“Nope!” Gladio said cheerfully. “MTs ain’t gonna let you yield. Gotta get loose on your own.”

“Gladio—!”

Gladio just raised an eyebrow.

“AUGHHHHHH!”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Losing the Battle and the War](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15431817) by [Mars_McKie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mars_McKie/pseuds/Mars_McKie)




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